Many software applications allow users to digitally sign electronic documents as a means to make paper-based signatures more secure. Typically, digital signatures include a digital code that can be attached to an electronic document to uniquely identify the author. Like a written signature, the purpose of a digital signature is to guarantee that the individual signing (and subsequently sending the document to others) is who he or she claims to be. Typically, users may “sign” an electronic document by clicking a “sign” button in an application program user interface to apply the digital signature. The applied digital signature may include an identification of the name of the signer (e.g., “Signed by . . . ) as well as the date and time the signature was received by the application program. If an electronic document is to be signed by multiple signers, copies of the document may be e-mailed to each signer for receiving their signatures.
Current methods of applying and collecting digital signatures however, suffer from several drawbacks. One drawback in the application of digital signatures is that many application programs do not allow the use of natural signature graphics (i.e., script or handwritten signatures) when digitally signing electronic documents. While some application programs do allow for a user to copy and paste digital signatures directly into an electronic document, these signatures are not cryptographically secure as the application programs allow anyone to easily replace the signature graphic of the original signer with that of another user. One drawback with the collection of digital signatures is that current methods of sending out multiple copies of an electronic document to multiple signers incur problems with managing the various versions of the document, merging edits to the document (different signers may edit the document differently), and finding the position on the document where the document author intended each signer to sign (the signer may need to read through lines of text to find the appropriate place for receiving their signature). Currently, these problems must be addressed manually resulting in wasted time and resources in collecting all of the signatures. It is with respect to these considerations and others that the various embodiments of the present invention have been made.